Conventional barking machines are known wherein cylinders of the machine are provided with a plurality of protruding barking blades, on the outer peripheries thereof. These cylinders are partially inserted into an opening formed in the lower portion of a container for processing logs. On the side wall of the container a plurality of slits each extending vertically, and a plurality of disc barking blades are inserted into the slits, said disc blades being supported by a shaft which is arranged outside of the container.
Other barking machines are known wherein the lower portion of a container is opened, the upper portions of a plurality of cylindrical rotors disposed in parallel with each other are inserted in the openings, and a plurality of protruding barking blades are provided on the outer peripheries of the cylinders. For a more detailed description of this machine, see U.S. application Ser. No. 675,871.
The prior art barking machines, however, include a number of disadvantages. In the prior art machines, logs are put into a container, where they are placed at one end side portion thereof. While the logs are stripped of their bark, they are consecutively moved to the other end side portion. The ends of the logs impinge upon the disc blades to render transmission impossible. Additionally, the relatively short logs intersect the lengthwise direction of the container, in which state the logs are caught in a space formed by the disc blades and the side wall of the container. Blockage of the logs is produced by a bridge-spanned configuration created in the container.
These containers have been made wider in order to enhance their processing capability. However, this structure encourages the logs to be brought down crosswise, so that the above-described blockage occurs often.
The disc blades rotate while retaining the bark or the wooden segments by their side plane, which are transferred from one side to the other side in the container in such a way that they circulate and rotate, pursuing the logs. The bark or the wooden segments are interposed between the disc blades and long stitches through which the disc blades are inserted into the container, thereby creating a blockage.
The barking machine disclosed in the specification of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 675,871, however, creates other disadvantages wherein the protruding barking blades provided on the outer peripheries of the cylinders must be higher, in order that the log is shifted from one lower side of the container to the other lower side thereof while being rotated, and at the same time is returned to the one side by being pushed up. Even if rotational loci of the barking blades of the adjacent cylinders are located proximate each other to prevent the log from falling between these cylinders, the logs having small diameters are either dropped from therebetween or are sandwiched therebetween.